Even I knew that his mistake was a stupid one.
‘Get down!’ I yelled.
Tobe spun on the spot, trying to hide his caught-by-surprise expression behind a viscous smile.
I could see faint dots of white light behind the Creep; they bobbed, dipped, but didn’t flicker. Not firelight, not candlelight, but torchlight. More Creeps …
‘Over here!’ the Creep who had stumbled upon us yelled.
He reached for his pistol, but he never stood a chance. Tobe, his gun already in his hand, was too fast—without dropping his smile, he shot the Creep down. Jude immediately started barking, trying to scare away the man-made thunder. The Creep began twitching. Tobe shot him a second time, this time in the head.
My stomach heaved again. I tasted bile again.
‘Come on!’ Tobe screamed.
He had seen the torches as well, but was clearheaded enough to know they were heading our way.
‘Go! Go! Go!’
He ushered us into the nearest alley that intersected ours. Shots rang out, gouging chunks of wood from the buildings around us. We ran on, before anyone could take better aim. I had no idea where we were going; we seemed to be heading down alleys at random. More shots rang out; more wood exploded around us.
And still we ran, taking a left, entering yet another alley, joining a mob of holdouts who were all running in the same direction we were, frenzied now that the Creeps were out on the streets.
Tobe kept looking over his shoulder, making sure that we hadn’t lost him. Whenever he caught my eye, he winked at me.
‘Bastard,’ I muttered.
He somehow heard me. He looked back; despite everything that was happening, he smiled a cheeky smile. He ran straight into someone, bowling them over. I watched as he simply stepped over them.
‘Come on.’
‘Tobe, wait.’
‘There’s no time.’
I stopped anyway—fuck him. Whoever he had bowled over was already pushing themselves off the ground.
‘Dickhead,’ a woman said.
Her voice was soft, but nonetheless it sounded like she took no shit. I thought I recognised it. It couldn’t be …
‘You should watch where you’re bloody going,’ the woman said, looking up at us.
Louise’s mouth literally dropped open. Mine did the same. So did Ruby’s.
‘G’day,’ was all that Tobe said. He didn’t seem at all surprised.
‘Lou!’ Ruby called happily.
Louise reached out and ruffled her hair. Ruby forgot where she was, forgot what was happening—she dropped her gun, wrapped her arms around Louise’s legs.
‘I don’t ever want to wake up,’ I said, finding my voice, properly smiling for the first time in a long time.
‘Nice to see you too, Bill,’ Louise said.
A shiver ran down my spine. ‘How long have you been here?’
‘I got in today, would you believe it?’
We both laughed. What else could we do? Even though our world had gone to hell, there was still something to smile about.
More shots rang out; our tiny moment of happiness was ruined. It was the sound of automatic gunfire, rat-a-tat-tat. Once again, I couldn’t see who was shooting, couldn’t see who was being shot. Louise flinched, pulling Ruby with her to the ground.
As the gunfire petered out, Ruby slowly and deliberately wormed free.
‘I’m okay.’
Ruby picked up her gun, trying hard to look determined. I reached down, took Louise’s hand, helped her to her feet.
‘What happened?’ she asked.
I nodded at Tobe. ‘What do you think?’
I had never seen hate in Louise’s eyes before.
‘I knew it. Bill, I don’t want to say I told you so, but …’
More gunfire cut off her words. It was closer this time, louder. Louise flinched again as screams answered the gunfire. Over her shoulder, at the far end of the alley, I saw the shadows start to stir. I stared at them, slack-jawed, confused. Tobe caught me staring. Whatever was stirring made him gape as well.
‘Go! Go! Go!’ he shouted again, shining his torch into the darkness.
It was too late. The shadows turned out to be another mob of panicked holdouts, heading straight for us. There were thirty of them, maybe forty, maybe more. Running blindly, the flash of gunfire lighting up the night behind them, they moved like a stampeding herd.
‘Shit,’ was all Tobe managed to say.
The mob hit us like a living, breathing wall. I couldn’t help letting go of Louise’s hand.
‘No!’
It seemed like such a small word. How could something so small hold so much regret? And then I was being trampled and had bigger things to worry about. Jude howled. People screamed. Gunfire echoed around us. Rolled up in a foetal ball, I caught glimpses of holdouts running, of Creeps chasing them, of people falling. It felt like everyone managed to kick me in my barely healed ribs. But all in all, it was actually less painful than I had expected and was over before it really began.
However, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt and didn’t feel like it lasted forever.
‘Kill me now,’ I moaned.
I slowly got to my feet. A dozen bodies crowded the alley floor: dead Creeps and dead holdouts. One of them groaned, tried to sit up. When it looked up at me and smiled a bloody smile, I discovered it was Tobe. The remainder of his teeth had been kicked in, but he seemed otherwise okay. He scooped up his weapons, stood straight and easy. Ruby made it to her feet, her elbow bent backward at a hideous angle. I couldn’t see Jacko or Jude anywhere.
What was worse was that I couldn’t find Louise.
‘Lou!’ I cried.
‘Keep it down, Bill. You don’t want to bring the Creeps back. Now, come on, let’s go.’
‘Give me a sec.’
‘There’s no time.’
I saw torches bobbing ahead of us, in the direction the panicked mob had been heading. Creeps coming back to either rake the bodies or tend to the wounded, I guessed. It didn’t make any difference; it was trouble all the same.
‘What about Lou?’ I asked nonetheless. ‘What about Jacko?’
‘Forget them.’
Tobe took my arm, dragged me behind him, made sure Ruby was following. Shots rang out, close behind us. I fought against Tobe but he was too strong. My feet caught on something; I stumbled, tripped. Tobe hauled me back up and kept dragging me, until I was forced to run along with him.
‘Tobe!’ I screamed.
‘Give it a rest.’
‘Let me go!’
‘Drop it, Bill. Lou wouldn’t come with us anyway.’
That was yet another reason to go back, maybe the most important one.
‘But …’
We ran into the empty square and came to a halt, exposed on open ground. I hadn’t even caught on that the alley had ended. Someone flicked on a spotlight, shone it in our eyes. I heard the metallic click of guns being cocked. Tobe let me go. I threw my hands above my head.
‘Dickhead,’ he smirked.
The light dipped.
‘You lot, get out of here, now!’ the holdout manning the spotlight yelled.
Three or four other holdouts stood alongside him, all armed, waiting for the Creeps who were hot on our collective tail.
We had walked into an ambush …
‘Shoot straight, you bastards!’ one of the holdouts yelled.
I dropped, hugged the ground. Tobe and Ruby did the same.
The holdouts shot straight. The Creeps behind us replied in kind, bullets whizzing above our heads. I gritted my teeth, managed to turn my head, looked at Tobe, looked at Ruby. She was crying, had given in to it. He craned his neck, looked left and right as well.
‘Keep low and follow me!’ he yelled, pointing to an alley leading away from the square.
The body of a Creep fell on me, drenching me in blood, giving me no chance to reply. I heaved it off. Disgusted, I almost jumped to my feet before it clicked tha
t doing so was an exceptionally bad idea.
‘Why?’ I asked no one in particular.
Tobe looked at me, his face worried. ‘You okay?’
I couldn’t help laughing.
‘What’s so funny?’ he asked.
‘You are, Tobe—you’re such an animal.’
He didn’t really understand. ‘Hang on, Bill. I did this for you, to make up for what I’ve done.’
Despite the violence, the madness and the bullets whizzing above our heads, I could see that he wanted his words to be taken seriously.
I couldn’t help asking myself a stupid question: why now?
‘I didn’t ask for this, Tobe.’
He opened his mouth, ready to argue with me. I waved around pathetically, almost had my hand shot off.
‘How could you think that this is okay?’
Tobe stammered, unable to answer my question. Ruby kept crying. The firefight raged on.
‘I needed a diversion,’ Tobe said, as if that was justification enough.
‘And you just assumed that I’d be okay with it,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘You assumed that I’d just come along like always.’
‘Well, yeah. Don’t you want to get out of here?’
My smile was all the answer he needed.
And then something exploded in the direction of the spotlight, showering us with dirt. The gunfire kept on, but it was less intense now. I craned my neck, blinked grit away, looked to the spotlight. The gunfight had become almost entirely one-sided, the heavy crack of the Creeps’ weapons answered by one last holdout, pinned down, outgunned, overwhelmed.
‘Last chance, Bill,’ Tobe said. ‘Come on.’
‘Haven’t you been listening?’
‘Yeah, of course I have. How many times can I say I’m sorry?’
That was the moment when I knew that things would never change.
‘Now, come on,’ he said. He looked away, looked to the alley. ‘Ruby? You take the lead, you’re the smallest and the fastest,’ Tobe yelled, oblivious to my cold smile of satisfaction.
It felt so good to finally know.
He shuffled around so that Ruby could worm past. She looked at me, looked at Tobe, reluctantly did as he said. He shoved her on, harder than was necessary.
‘Move it!’
She started crawling, didn’t look back. I whispered a goodbye. I heard the last holdout scream. It could have been pain; it could have been anger. Either way, his time was short. Tobe started to slither after Ruby. I didn’t move.
‘Bill, let’s go,’ he said, looking back at me.
‘No.’
Tobe froze. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that.’
‘I’m not coming.’
His eyes bugged. As I had hoped, seeing the look on his face made it all worthwhile.
‘Tobe, I’m tired of being hungry and thirsty all the time.’
He didn’t say anything. I guessed he was thinking about grabbing me by the scruff and hauling me along. After all, he had already done it once that day. But we both knew he couldn’t drag me after him fast enough to escape the Creeps.
‘And I’m tired of following you. I’m tired of having to follow you. Who are you, Tobe? Look what you’ve done.’
He flinched away from my words, wouldn’t meet my eye, and looked ahead instead. Ruby was almost at the alley. He manned up, looked back at me. I twisted the knife.
‘I don’t have to worry about what might happen, because it’s already happened.’
I thought of Louise’s smile, and the fact that she might still be alive. We could be together …
‘I’m sorry,’ Tobe said.
He looked me in the eye. He was crying, silently. I didn’t shed a tear.
‘I don’t care anymore, Tobe. I honestly couldn’t give a shit.’
‘But …’
‘I’m done.’
It felt good to say.
Another explosion came from the direction of the spotlight, more death and more insanity caused by Tobe’s recklessness.
The gunfire stopped.
‘And we’re done,’ I said in the sudden quiet.
That felt good too.
Tobe and I stared at each other for what I knew would be the last time. We didn’t really need to say anything more. Despite everything that had happened, there was still that instant knowing—that silent click—that only happens when you’ve been mates for years. It’s that ability to know what someone’s thinking by the way they flick the ash off their bush tobacco, the way they shake their head, the way they squint in the sun.
‘Now, piss off,’ I said.
He smiled a crooked smile. I returned it in spades. He looked away. Ruby had made it to the alley and was waiting in the shadows. He shook his head, making up his mind.
‘Catch you later,’ he said over his shoulder as he started crawling away.
‘No worries.’
What else could I say?
Acknowledgments
Thanks must first go to Mia, my beautiful Mia. Without your feedback, encouragement, enthusiasm and love, The Rain Never Came wouldn’t exist. I couldn’t have done it without you.
Thanks must also go out to Rose and Steve—a son couldn’t ask for better or more supportive parents—and to Lucy, the best little sister a brother could have. Who would have thought that a long ago move from the suburbs to the bush would have helped create a book?
An extra special ‘thank you’ goes out to all the fine folk at Odyssey Books, but especially to Michelle. Your careful eye, attention to detail and flair for editing made the book what is today, and your endless patience with my innumerable questions will always be appreciated. And, of course, thank you for picking it up in the first place and giving a budding author a chance.
Thanks, as well, to Alexis and Chris, who supervised and supported me during my PhD days. Your expect feedback helped The Rain Never Came move from an idea to a reality, and your guidance through the world of literary theory and criticism allowed me to invest the book with a rich and undeniably ‘Australian’ flavour.
Thanks to Matt for the inspiring images and for being my brother in science-fiction, and to Merlin for all the good times and for collaborating on the musical side of the publicity machine, and to the rest of the fellas: Andy, Craig, Riah, and Jules. I couldn’t have asked for a better bunch of mates. And thanks to everyone at BAAG, and especially to Lindy and Paul—your patience with my odd rosters and on-off hours gave me the freedom I needed to just get it done.
Lastly, thanks go out to you, dear reader. Without your interest in Australian science-fiction, we wouldn’t have our own particular Antipodean take on the genre.
About the Author
Lachlan Walter is a writer and nursery hand (the garden kind, not the baby kind), who has completed a PhD in Australian post-apocalyptic fiction and national identity. He writes science fiction criticism for Aurealis magazine, reviews for the independent ‘weird music’ website Cyclic Defrost, and is currently writing a serious book-length story cycle about giant monsters, as well as a science-fiction western. He loves all things music-related, the Australian environment, overlooked genres, and gardening.
www.lachlanwalter.com
Did you like The Rain Never Came?
Click here to share your review on Goodreads
or join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, special offers, giveaways, bonus content and other great books from Odyssey Books. Sign up here
Follow Odyssey Books for more great books and book news!
>share
The Rain Never Came Page 22